Not only is it older, ALISON’s goals are distinct from younger MOOCs such as Coursera and Udacity, which have received much more press in part because of their alliances with elite universities.

“Our focus is workplace skills,” company CEO Mike Feerick told InformationWeek in a phone interview. Indeed, ALISON started with two globally in-demand skills: English and IT literacy, the latter in the form of ABC IT, a 15- to 20-hour training suite that remains the site’s most popular course.